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Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal

When I made this Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal the first time, we had just gone from a few lovely fall days to fall with a vengeance here in the Twin Cities. Windy, cold & blustery.

Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal

That’s when you’re going to want a meal that warms you up from the inside out. I’m talking comfort, here. Midwestern comfort from the Instant Pot like this easy Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal.

Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal is Thick-cut Pork Chops with all the fixin’s: Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Carrots. Talk about a classic comfort meal. And it’s all done with little fuss and bother in the Instant Pot.

Be sure to use good thick cut, bone in chop for the Instant Pot Pork Chop, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch thick, or the timing will be off. If time allows, brine; even a 20 or 30-minute brine will make a difference, but longer is always better. I love the brine I used on Pork Chops with Plum Compote.

While I’ve always my Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal for 15 minutes in the Instant Pot, I’ve had some feedback on Pinterest, and lowered the time to 12 minutes with great success. I try to keep tabs on recipes I put out there & listen. I want every recipe to work for everyone and love your feedback!

Just a note: the carrots and potatoes will always be very soft in this recipe – that’s no problem for the potatoes coz they’re mashed, but choose the largest carrots you can find and know they’ll be very tender.

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if you’re not a fan of heat, cut back on the cayenne.)

The rest of the team:

4 bone-in thick cut pork chops, about 1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″ thick

2 to 3 tablespoons oil

1 cup stock, either beef or chicken

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 to 5 medium-sized russet potatoes, peeled if desired

4 to 5 large carrots, peeled and cut into 3 or 4-inch chunks

4 tablespoons butter, for the mashed potatoes

3–4 tablespoons cream or milk, or as much as needed for desired consistency, for the mashed potatoes

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Set the Instant Pot to Saute, High, and add two tablespoons oil. Mix together the rub ingredients and season the pork chops liberally on both sides; reserve remaining rub to add to pot, later.

When the Instant Pot is hot, add pork chops to the bottom (depending on the size of the Instant Pot and shape of the pork chops, this might have to be done in two batches) and brown on both sides. Use additional oil if needed.

Remove the pork chops and set on a plate and add the stock to the Instant Pot, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add onion and potatoes to the Instant Pot. Add rack (that comes with the Instant Pot) on top of the potatoes and lay the carrots across the rack. Set pork chops directly on top of carrots. Add any juices that might have accumulated on the plate the pork chops were sitting on as well as any of the remaining seasoning rub.

Add ring to Instant Pot lid, seal and set Instant Pot to Pressure, High for 12 minutes. When time is up, allow the pot go to the Keep Warm function, let it sit for 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.

Remove the pork chops and carrots to a platter, tent to keep warm and let them rest as you prepare the potatoes & gravy.

Make the Mashed Potatoes:

Remove potatoes from the Instant Pot (a slotted spoon works well as they’re very soft) and put them in a bowl, leaving the liquid behind in the Instant Pot.

Roughly mash potatoes with 4 tablespoons of butter and the 3 to 4 tablespoons of milk, to desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Make Gravy:

Make a slurry by placing the two tablespoons flour in a small bowl or cup. Add the 1/2 cup cream, slowly, stirring constantly with a fork until mixture is smooth.

Set the Instant Pot back to Saute, High. When the liquid in the Instant Pot boils (will happen almost immediately) add the slurry, stirring with a whisk until the mixture thickens. (Again, will happen almost immediately)

Remove the whole instant pot liner from the Instant Pot right away so the gravy doesn’t continue to cook, and pour gravy into a bowl for serving. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt or pepper if needed.

Serve as desired, on a platter or plated.

Notes

Seasoning: If you’d rather not make your own seasoning rub, try one of your favorite spice blends – about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons should do it.

Total time reflects the time needed for Instant Pot to come up to pressure and to release.

There were several questions about the “juices” from the pork chops and the “slurry” in this recipe. The recipe has been updated to reflect those answers.

147 thoughts on “Instant Pot Pork Chop One Pot Meal”

Hi Ginny, Great question. I should have clarified. I just use whipping cream because that’s what most of the groceries in our area carry but you could use heavy cream, too. Heavy cream might make the gravy slightly thicker. 🙂

This recipe was very good. The pork chops came out very tender. My husband likes breaded pork chops so I put the seasonings in the breadcrumbs, dipped pork chops in egg and milk mixture and browned before cooking. Came out delicious. The gravy was a bonus.

Suzy, I’m just not sure! Pork tenderloins don’t take very long in the IP, seven to nine minutes or so, but the volume is more, which means it takes the pot a bit longer to heat up. That might turn the potatoes to absolute mush. They’ll be mashed anyway. I’m intrigued, though!! If you do decide to try it, I’d love it if you’d check back and let us all know! 🙂

Thanks! I gave it a shot last night! It did take a lot longer to heat up, but worked out fine! I did 30 minutes, and then 10 NPR. The potatoes were so easy to mash! I think maybe 25 would have been better, as the pork was shredding instead of slicing….

A delicious success!
When I brown meat, then deglaze and add stuff, I usually get the dreaded Burn Notice (I loved that show, not so much the bURN lights). I bought a slightly dented extra inner pot on eBay, so tonight I did the ol’ switcheroo. After browning the chops and deglazing, I poured the liquid into the other pot, and followed the recipe from there. It worked. Also, elevating the chops probably helps, too.
From now on, I’ll do the switch. I’d much rather wash two inner pots than get in that mess of correcting the Burn Notice.
Thanks for a great recipe.
p.s. I cut the russets in half. The result was perfectly cooked taters.

I made this tonight, and it was delicious! I used boneless pork chops because that’s what I had and reduced the cooking time to 10 minutes. I waited 10 minutes and then released the pressure. And the mashed potatoes were the best I believe I’ve ever eaten! Definitely going on my “make again” list! Thank you!

Great point! I live in the Midwest and we get marvelous pork. I think some ppl are using that packaged pork that says thick cut but isn’t really, so they probably need to watch the timing. I love getting the big loins on sale, too, and slicing them how I like my chops, too, which is a great way to get a budget priced thick cut boneless chop.

Hi Deb, I’d go with the thick cut on this particular recipe. I’d be afraid your pork chops would be overdone by the time the potatoes were cooked. You could give it a go and lower the time by a minute or two and see. Worst case scenario would be you’d open the pot, remove the pork chops and give the potatoes another minute.

This was really good!! I used red potatoes since I didn’t have any russet, then left them whole- the veggies soaked up alllll the flavor!!! Question- this was only my 3rd or 4th time using my instant pot…and just as the cooking time was coming to an end, it went completely dead- blank screen, tried plugging into another outlet- nothing. Is this something it does, if maybe it overheats? Sadly, I bought over a year ago, so the warranty is probably invalid. Thanks!

Oh, my, I have never heard of that happening. What a shame. Did you get it on amazon and by any chance did you get an extended warranty? I’d email the company anyway, and see if they’ll make good on it, take a pic of the IP and ring, inside and out and send it, also…you can usually tell when the ip’s been used a lot.

Jessica, Did you move the IP at all? The plug in the back can come loose and I find the only way to actually know is to completely unplug it from the back and then plug it back in. It is also possible you threw a breaker, but it seems like the old, loose-cord-in-the-back is the more likely scenario.

Trish it’s interesting you mentioned that because my cord has started to come loose. I give it a wiggle and it’s fine. It has not done that in the middle of the recipe tho, thank goodness! My IP has been in pretty much constant use for over a year, though.

Hi Sarah, I can’t really picture how small or large the 3 qt is, but I would think at least half. It’s ok if the pork chops stick up a little bit above the fill line, though, I would think as long as there is plenty of room around them. I have been thinking about a 3 qt to do side dishes…:)

I Love this recipe! I’ve made it twice. I had to cut down the potatoes and increase the carrots to get the proportions right though, for us. I Love that you cook 3 totally different things together with this…PLEASE share more recipes like this that contain multiple foods together!!!!! This is my favorite IP meal so far 😀

Hi Megan, I’m so glad to hear it! Of all the recipes on my blog I worry about this one the most, due to some mixed reviews on Pinterest! I’m glad you liked it! Carrots are funny, they always seem like too many when they go in but once I start eating them, I can’t get enough!! It’s the same deal with pot roast, too. 🙂 I’ll try to do more one pot recipes like this!

I have made these twice, using 6 bone in pork chops and a few extra potatoes (so thankful for my 8qt). They are so tender and full of down home comfort food flavor. The gravy is perfect! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!

Hi Deb. thanks for stopping by and letting me know! It made my day, which has been pretty miserable so far. I’m so tired of snow and shoveling!!

I agonized over the choice between the 6 & the 8 quart, but since when I bought it there were three in the household I chose the six. The problem is I’m used to cooking “Big” I guess. I wish I could fit a large chicken in my six, especially!

Hi Paula, I just got back after an afternoon of appointments. I imagine you may have already made this? If not, I think I’d knock a minute off, but I have never cooked w/o the potatoes. Better to have to reseal and cook a bit more than to overcook, I think. 🙂

Thanks for responding! I had already made them. I think they were a bit thinner than the recipe states, maybe 3/4″? I’m also still learning to use my Instant Pot so I’m thinking I may have vented too quickly. They were a little dry. I will definitely make again, though. The flavors were delicious. And next time I’ll have the potatoes on hand!

I got some feedback on pinterest that some ppl were having dry chops, so I tried this recipe again with a 12 minute cook time and thought it still worked well, but again, I was using thick chops. I can’t remember what date I modified this! Did you use the 12 minute time? Just curious. I’m glad you like the recipe otherwise, Pork is a little tough to get just right, especially in an instant pot where you can’t stop and check it.

I’m a little curious if you have seen some of my other Instant Pot recipes. The first recipe I made that I thought was a total success and kind of a lifesaver in getting dinner on the table was this one. It’s super easy and turns out great.

Yes, I did use the 12 minutes for time, but my husband confirmed that the chops were only about 3/4″ thick, bone in. I’m thinking they would require less time?
I did not try that recipe yet but I certainly will. We love honey in our house! I’ll have to leave out the sesame seeds as my kids do not like seeds. I very rarely buy chicken breasts anymore as they have been very poor quality chicken. We use chicken tenders or thighs here. What adjustment would you recommend? Thanks for your tips!

I made this and it was so delicious. (Rub os a little peppery for may taste, but the rest of my family loved it.)

That said, the pot never changed from “On” to the countdown and then I got the dreaded “burn” message. There was no pressure to release. When I opened the pot all the juice had burned out. I had no juice to make gravy. (It didn’t really matter since the potatoes tasted so good.)

Thanks! I am. I had a nice long nap today. Normally I up the cook time a bit when I make anything frozen, but I haven’t cooked any frozen ones in this dish. As it is, the potatoes and carrots are already very well cooked and I’m afraid they’d be mush if any more time were added! I wish I had a better answer for you!!

Related to the sauté, but more about the size/pressure ratio: I’m a first time one pot user and pretty intimidated! I am trying this tonight. Given the late hour last night that I was shopping, I could only get decent 3/4 inch boneless loin- not ideal. I have the same dry pork problem others seem to experience. You’ve said shave off a minute or two- but large family, I have 10 of them- so, for us nervous cooks, can you be more specific on how long you think I should leave the one pot on the high pressure? Thanks so much for sharing these recipes- newbies need all the help we can get! 🙂

Oh Beth, I’m so sorry! I was tied up most of the day (ok, I was sleeping, not feeling well) so didn’t see your comment until now. It’s always a bit of a crapshoot when changing up IP recipes. Honestly, if you haven’t made this yet, I would go to the Facebook Instant Pot Community. They are fantastic and there are a lot of really experienced IP users. If I understand, you’re cooking 10 smaller pork chops, right? Anyway, if it weren’t at 11:00 at night, I’d post your question for you!! But do join that group, They’re amazing!

Just recently FINALLY received my instantpot. I had my son ,who is checking off his boy scout cooking merit badge , use this recipe and substitute round steak he breaded and made “chicken fried steak”. I can’t wait to try it with the pork chops. The gravy was the absolute best gravy I have ever tasted. Not a gravy fan…but I think I have converted!!! Biscuits and gravy for breakfast! Thanking you for sharing this recipe!!

Hi Sheila, how fun!! I was a merit badge counselor for cooking, and it is REALLY a tough badge with a lot of requirements. I think it’s actually one of the more difficult badges! Good for you & your son! Interesting change up on the recipe, too! That gravy is good, isn’t it! 🙂

I made this tonight. It was mighty tasty. I have a 6qt Duo and I sort of ran out of room. My bone in pork chops were huge! I had to remove some potatoes but still had plenty of them. And might I add, those potatoes are awesome! Next time I make this, I think I’ll leave out the thyme, I’m not a fan of it, and use smaller pork chops. This is a must make recipe!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Aren’t they, though? They really pick up all that flavor. I think the Chicken Rub is an inspired idea! Now, I think any rub would be great – the original has a bit of a Cajun spin, but I can really see a the Chicken Spice Rub (McCormicks makes that Rotisserie rub that’s so good – did you use that?) or even going with a Ranch.

Hi Rich, I didn’t realize it wasn’t clear so thanks for pointing that out. Mix together the cream and flour – that’s making the slurry. Then add that to the pot when the liquid in the bottom of the pot is boiling. Hope that helps.

I am a newbie to instant pot so I am not freelancing yet. I have porkchops that are only about a half inch thick-maybe 3/4. I have a large family and will probably cook four of them-they are pretty large, more like small steaks. How long should I cook for? Thanks

Hi Jamee, I apologize – I had a post scheduled automatically so I haven’t really been on the blog today. If you haven’t cooked them yet, I’d go for the same amt of time and then check them and add a bit more if needed. If you already cooked them, hope they turned out great!

I not understand where the juices are coming from. If the bottom of the pot has the potatoes would the juice just fall through the rack and into the potatoes?? Am I missing something? I’m a newbie myself! Also are the chops frozen or thawed. I thought 15 minutes was a long cooking time for thawed chips??

Robyn, this recipe calls for the thick bone-in pork chops, they’re like an inch and a quarter thick and they are not frozen! And yes, it’s a little longer than some recipes, but it is a one pot meal, and the way this is cooked with the pork chops on top, they are protected from the most intense heat at the bottom of the pot. Now on Pinterest a couple people were concerned because they had dry chops, so I think they might have been using thinner ones. Sometimes the already packed in styrofoam and wrapped pork chops at the store are called “thick cut” but they’re really much thinner, only about 1/2 to 3/4″ thick. That will make a difference in the timing. I haven’t made this recipe with thinner chops but I’d guess you’d want to shave off some time.

I’m going to experiment with a couple different times, too, just to make sure I do have the optimal timing. I’ve made this about six or seven times and it’s been working very well for me, but I want to make sure it works perfectly for everyone! When I was at the store, yesterday, those thick chops at regular price were about six dollars a piece, so obviously, I’ll be waiting for a sale!

As to the juices, when you start the recipe, you brown the chops, remove them, add a cup of broth to the pot. Then add the potatoes, which are going to be sitting in the broth, right? Then add the rack, the carrots, the pork chops and any juices that are on the plate that the chops were sitting on. I updated the recipe so everyone would understand that when meat is removed after browning, it usually lets off some juices, which will pool under them on the plate they are sitting on.

Those chops will also give out some juices when they cook which will filter down to the potatoes and broth in the bottom. (That was what someone mentioned when they asked if the chops were cooked in foil and they were wondering about the juices coming off the pork chops.)

When you open up the pot, you’ll remove the chops, then the rack with the carrots (some will probably fall through) then remove the potatoes to a bowl. You’ll have all that liquid in the bottom of the pot, from the broth you add and from any juices that have filtered down from the pork chops. That liquid is brought to a boil to make the gravy.

I hope I answered your question!! I updated the recipe just to be sure it is clear for everyone! Thanks!

Looks awesome- I agree with you that brining pork chops can make a huge difference when using the oven or stovetop! Would while, unpeeled sweet potatoes cook up the same? If I didn’t plan on mashing and making gravy?

Thanks! I haven’t tried sweet potatoes in my IP but I hear they can be tricky. The potatoes in this are almost to the point of falling apart when they’re scooped out. THey’re pretty wet, too. I”m guessing the same thing would happen to the sweet potatoes, although I’m not sure because they are so much denser than a potato. I’d love to hear if you try it and how it worked.

Hi Sally, I think they’d be fine for very short term. I’m not usually a huge fan of freezing pork chops because they can get so dry. I do have another idea – eat the pork chop for dinner, have one later as a leftover and toss the other two back in with some broth and spices and cook until nice as soft and shreddable and make like a pulled pork or mexican style pork for tacos.

I made this tonight. Super delicious but a bit spicy, next time I’ll leave out the cayenne. I couldn’t find super thick chops, the ones I had were about 3/4 inch but it was still great. I love that it was a one pot meal but it was a lot of work and a messy kitchen for me. The mashed potatoes were amazing! They loved it and I will make it again! Thank you!

Hi Alicia – Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know how it worked out. It does get a bit hectic at the end with the pork chops resting, mashing the potatoes and then the gravy, doesn’t it? But still so much easier I think than a traditional dinner like this would be.

I’m going to put a note to cut back on the cayenne a bit, because another person said that, too.

Terry, I recently rewrote the instructions, making a slight change and had a typo – it said remove pork chops and the stock, meant to be remove pork chops, add the stock. My apologies! It is fixed now, and thanks for catching it!

Hi again, Rich, now I’m confused. You seem to be wondering about when the stock is added?

The stock is added towards the beginning of the recipe. After it’s cooked, the pork chops and carrots are removed, the potatoes are removed and the slurry goes into the liquid in the bottom of the pot. I hope that clears it up for you?

I know what you mean – they can dry out in a heartbeat. Make sure to use thick ones, preferably bone it, and it never hurts to brine. But I hope you enjoy it and let me know how you like it if you give it a try. 🙂

You could do more, sure. These a pretty huge pork chops, though. I haven’t tested more for timing but guessing you’ll want to add a little on your time. I hate dry chops, so maybe start out with an extra minute.

Hi Mollie– This looks wonderful– and I have 2 nice pork chops defrosted in the fridge for tomorrow– But can I make this in an oven?? Don’t have an instapot. Those mashed potatoes are calling my name! Stay cozy and warm Mollie– I’m wrapped in a blanket on the couch here! And I think you have REAL fall weather! hugs

Here’s a very simple brine (from the link in the post) that works well with just about any pork chop. Some brines have lots of different flavors, but this one is straight-forward:

To brine the chops:

In a ziploc bag, add 5 black peppercorns, 1 tablespoon table salt, and a tablespoon honey. Add a small amount, about 1/4 cup, of hot water, stirring to dissolve salt. Add the pork chops and enough cold water to cover the chops.

Seal and place in a container in the fridge. Brine for one to four hours.

Sure looks good Mollie – I would prefer your dinner over mine especially with the sides. I still have not bought an Insta Pot as pressure cookers have been my thing – canning and such. I think I need to buy a new “kitchen gadget” just to make this meal 🙂

I have a stove top pressure cooker – a fagor, I think. I also have a pressure canner (goodness, it’s in the scary closet under the stairs!) so I kind of poo pooed the Instant Pot at first. I think one of the things that’s so great about it is that it is so consistent in the cooking, and I don’t worry about walking away from it or having to make adjustments in temperature.

And the other thing is that the IP has caught on and there are so many enthusiastic cooks and recipes and methods. 🙂